Going public with learning : Web 2.0 teaching innovation

Going Public with Learning: Reflections on a Web 2.0 teaching innovation
Matthew Allen, Dept of Internet Studies, Curtin Universityand ALTC Teaching Fellow

In this presentation...
Description and background for the unit:NET204 – Internet Communities and Social Networks
Design approach for NET204:online conference as technique to achieve pedagogic goals
Students’ responses to this innovation:examples, comments and data
Conclusions about the nature of ‘authentic’ learning experiences, assessment, and role of ‘Web 2.0’ approaches

NET204: Description and Background
Description:“... In this unit, you will investigate the excitement, the scepticism, the possibilities and the pitfalls of communities, networks and online social interaction and become more effective in managing and facilitating them.”
Learning outcomes:
demonstrate understanding of the origin, nature, purpose and operation of Internet-mediated communities and online networks of social interaction;
analyse specific examples of Internet-mediated communities and networks in terms of theories of broader interaction and identity within society;
demonstrate an understanding of the complex relationship between technological forms of connectivity and social practices of connectivity; and
use conceptual knowledge of Internet-mediated communities and networks to be an effective participant in diverse forms of online interaction

NET204: Description and Background
Same unit, three offerings, around 100 students total...very diverse student population; some internal, most external; levels, expectations, motivations vary...
Curtin undergraduates (various courses)
Curtin graduates (Master of Internet Studies)
OUA undergraduates (BA Internet Communications)
Unit is the 2nd of 5 which emphasise more scholarly / academic styles of knowledge work in course predominantly concerned with ‘practical’ learning

NET204: Design Approach
What goals did we want to achieve?
Motivate and engage students for greater achievement
Use the subject matter (knowledge networking, community collaboration) as basis for learning to gain synergies
Improve the quality of student participation
What technique to achieve these goals?
Authentic learning experience – unit as ‘online conference’
Organisation of time and tasks according to conference needs
All assessment subordinate to, framed by the conference
Shared responsibility for success of the conference
Conference run as a public event to maximise its authenticity as a knowledge networking event, not just ‘studying’

NET204: Design Approach
How the online conference created the narrative:
Introduction (Week 1)
Reading / conference paper planning (Weeks 2-4)
Writing conference paper (Weeks 5-6)
Conference preparation (Weeks 7-8)
The Conference (Weeks 9-11)
Review (Weeks 12-13)
How the conference determined the assessment:
Conference paper (50% - draft; feedback; finalise)
Conference participation (30% - self-assess; then tutor check)
Conference review (20% - look back; write review essay)

Summary of the design ethos
The overriding priority was to assure students that:
yes, they were studying at university (in one of several modes, on campus or not, at various levels, with many other students of differing abilities) and yes, they were going to be assessed and judged on their individual performance in the normal manner
but that, to succeed, we wanted them to:
suspend their disbelief, willingly perform as conference participants and embrace the idea that the priority was individual and collective success in running the conference, with learning a secondary matter, and in the end formal ‘studying’ was relegated to third and last place.

NET204: Social Implementation
Conference process front and centre from week 1 of the unit: consistent message about the focus and goals of unit
Conference paper submitted to tutors in Week 6, given extensive feedback and commentary to direct improvements for final public submission in Week 8
During Weeks 7-8, while papers marked, students ‘let loose’ to devise social media strategy to promote conference and to discuss participating for best effect (low tutor involvement)
During conference itself, teachers act to encourage, prompt and direct, but conscious of letting students have first say

NET204: Technical Implementation
Blackboard LMS used as ‘home’ for the unit (but not the conference)
Wordpress installation on 3rd party server used to create the online conference environment (blog, but not as you know it)http://networkconference.netstudies.org
Students used array of technologies, from their own initiative, in the conference planning / promotion phase:Ning as a group discussion environmentFacebook, Twitter, Youtube as promotional channels

So what did the conference look like, and how was it promoted?

Front page of conference website

Conference paper post (summary)

Discussion following paper

Input screen for comments

But we were not the only Internet users 

Student spaces (private): Ning

Student spaces (public): Facebook

Student spaces (mixed): Twitter

NET204: Student activity
102 student papers contributed; more than 2500 comments on those papers (some from interested observers; comments from both authors and readers)
Highest number of comments – 91;Lower number of comments – 9;Average number / paper – 25
700 comments in first week; another 450 in second week; the majority (1400) in last week

NET204: overall student response
This is possibly the most valuable experience I have had so far at Uni and to top it all off, it was amazingly good fun! I’m sure I learned more about the different facets of online networks and social communities by participating in this conference, than if I had trawled through online databases. (student)
Very exciting and stimulating material I see so far in the strands and great to see this is going on for a period of three weeks! Thanks to all involved for making this available in an open mode. (observer)

NET204: overall student response

NET204: Conclusions – 4 hypotheses
Students would not be impeded by moving out of the ‘walled garden’ of a learning management system
Students would take the conference to be an authentic learning experience; and would be motivated by authenticity to achieve better learning outcomes
Students would not suffer assessment anxiety, despite the difference from expected modes of education
Students would achieve significant learning outcomes through direct collaboration between students because collaboration focused on collectively achieving a shared task

NET204: Conclusions – 4 hypotheses
94% of students agreed the website was “in general terms...easy to use” (45% SA, 49% A)
89% of students agreed that the experience was “realistic”, despite being part of a unit of study (35% SA, 54% A)
93% of students agreed that they were “comfortable” participating even though it was assessed (26% SA, 67% A)
88% of students agreed that other students’ comments were “helpful for learning” (23% SA, 66% A)

Final conclusions
Learning in public is as much about the public environment of the collective student group, and the imagined audience of others, as about any real ‘public audience’
Authenticity is not reality; good learning requires negotiation of the differences between ‘the real’ and ‘education’ and articulation of the relationship
Student collaboration requires teachers to ‘step back’ to create the conditions and necessity for them to work together
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Going public with learning : Web 2.0 teaching innovation

by Matthew Allen

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